KUCHING: The dismal showing by several new parties in the recent Sarawak polls has not deterred them, with some even more determined to give it another go in the 15th General Election (GE15). Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) may have lost in all the 73 seats it contested, but president Voon Lee Shan felt that it was a good first outing.

       “Despite the results, we consider our performance a victory.

       “What we did was unprecedented. We are a new political party, organised in less than three years. But we were able to put up a good fight with our 73 candidates in 82 seats,” he said in an interview.

       Voon contested in the Batu Lintang seat, which saw a five-way fight that was won by Parti Sarawak Bersatu’s (PSB) See Chee How by a majority of 93 votes.

       Voon polled 1,540 votes to come in fourth behind See (4,420 votes), Sih Hua Tong of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (4,327) and Cherishe Ng of PKR (1,823).

       In fifth place was Leong Shaow Tung of Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi), with 187 votes.

       Voon said the poor showing by Pakatan Harapan parties – DAP, PKR and Amanah – reflected the people’s rejection of Peninsular Malaysia politics.

       “This is the land of hornbills and only Sarawakians should manage it without interference,” he said.

       PBK, said Voon, would be preparing itself for GE15 and hoped that more Sarawakians would support the party.

       “We will conduct a post-mortem to determine our strengths and weaknesses, and assess the mood on the ground. We believe that many people out there support our cause, but they did not come out to vote,” said Voon.

       Parti Sedar Rakyat Sarawak is another state-based outfit that participated in the election for the first time. Its five candidates, including president Datuk Othman Abdullah who contested in Samariang, all lost their deposits.

       Othman said the experience had not discouraged them.

       “We are preparing to contest again in GE15. There are 31 seats available, so maybe we will contest in 15 or so,” said Othman, adding that small parties without many resources like theirs were at a disadvantage.